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"Government  you think the problems we create are bad, just wait 'til you see our solutions."  GSA worker in video at lavish Las Vegas conference

In yet another example of ongoing spending hubris, it was revealed that the GSA  your General Services Administration  spent an extravagant $835,000 for 300 workers to attend its Western "regional conference" in Las Vegas.
We have no word yet on what the GSA spent on eastern, northern and southern regional conferences. Maybe if you waste enough taxpayer money in the regionals, you can play your way into the Final Four – and then Obama takes notice.

This all happens while Obama acts like he wants to cut spending. When Republicans and Democrats meet about deficit reduction, we all know it is a show. They make bold budget-cutting proclamations but, like a first round basketball game in the NCAA tournament where a No. 1 seed plays a No. 16, the lower ranked team is hopeful but the outcome is never really in doubt.

The revelations about the GSA spending outrage come on the heels of the Department of Justice admitting it spent $16 apiece for muffins during 10 DOJ conferences last year. Unless "Muffin" was a stripper, they were overcharged. To be fair, DOJ people had been confiscating medical marijuana in California and probably just got the munchies.

And the National Science Foundation wasted $2.9 billion on an Antarctic laboratory where scientists did worthless research and went skinny-dipping, and we paid for their Jell-O wrestling parties. Democrats were bothered less by the spending than by the way it upset the natural habits of polar bears, whose mating ritual now involves Jello-O shots followed by insincere banter in the hot tub.

Under the watchful eye of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-DC), the GSA boondoggle was allowed. "Sherlock" Holmes-Norton, who headed Congressional oversight on this agency, did not find this elementary to solve. It was a rare mistake by my favorite hyphenated congresswoman, who is accused of shaking down lobbyists for money. No one is laughing at my Eleanor Holmes-Norton tattoo now!

It is nice when federal agencies can take a break from regulating and bureaucratizing to lavish upon themselves the spoils of their taxpayer hoodwinking. The agency is called the "General" Service Administration because the workers do no specific tasks.

What makes this over-the-top expense even more ironic is that the GSA's stated mission on its website, next to the Obama campaign-like emblem, is to "develop government-wide cost-minimization policies and other management tasks."

Here are just a few of the "cost-minimization" techniques the Inspector General says the GSA applied to its Las Vegas convention. They paid $3,200 for a mind-reader, yet said sage did not tell them this was a bad idea. (But to be fair, for a psychic to be successful there has to be a mind to read.) $6,300 went for commemorative coin sets in velvet boxes for all attendees. Yet they print worthless U.S. Government paper to pay for this frivolity. They might as well swap our paper money for Monopoly money and save the printing cost. Other expenses included scrapbooks, presumably for their community outreach program to teach scrapbooking techniques to the homeless.

Our government has the financial discipline of a 19-year-old Ole Miss frat boy. And – I am not making this up – the Obama administration initially tried to blame the GSA excesses on Bush, much like our frat boy blames the towing company for costing him $200 when he messes up.

Fresh from welcoming his family back from Las Vegas, Obama was said to be "outraged" about GSA spending. This comes from the man who flies his wife and dog to exotic vacations on separate jets, just a couple of hours from when he flies in on Air Force One. The admonishment is all a part of the Obama administration's "Do as we say, not as we do" philosophy. He famously disparaged Las Vegas by saying "You don't blow a bunch of cash" there. Personally, I prefer my odds in Vegas; at least there I have a chance at winning.

It does not take a mind-reader to tell us what we need to do about government spending. A government contractor should invite all federal workers back to Las Vegas, and then Paul Ryan should change all the locks to their buildings while they are gone.

JWR contributor Ron Hart grew up in Tennessee and began writing a column for his hometown paper in 2002. He attended The University of Memphis and the Institute for Political and Economic Systems at Georgetown University. Ron graduated Magna Cum Laude and was elected student government president. Upon getting his MBA, he went to work for Goldman Sachs. He was appointed to the Tennessee Board of Regents by then Governor Lamar Alexander and is now a private investor. He appears on CNN and has been quoted in numerous publications including the Wall Street Journal.

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